


Kill the Midwife

by MystExplorer



Category: Monk (TV)
Genre: Blackmail, Gen, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 02:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16421024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MystExplorer/pseuds/MystExplorer
Summary: Judge Ethan Rickover has a problem. His past is catching up with him. And desperate times call for desperate measures.





	Kill the Midwife

            The clock on the mantelpiece struck eleven. Ethan Rickover, bourbon in hand, stood staring at it with a gnawing anticipation. Then another five minutes passed. And then another. He picked up the fireplace poker and poked at the dying embers of what had been a roaring fire just a few hours ago. It was all he could do to get his mind off the meeting he had been preparing for all week.

            _Where the hell is she?_ he thought. There were any number of things he could be doing right now, like fixing the leaky shower upstairs. Instead, he had to wait for someone he had hoped to never see again. His past had come back to haunt him and the bourbon was the only thing keeping him calm. He was just about ready to call it a night when the doorbell rang. He opened the front door and there she was. Older, of course, but still unmistakably the same woman he had met nearly fifteen years before.

            “Hello Wendy,” Rickover said. Wendy Stroud, the ever reliable midwife. As much as he had tried to forget her, he had never quite been able to wipe that penetrating stare of hers from his mind.

            “Ethan,” Wendy replied tersely.

            “Come on in.” She walked inside and he closed the door. “Can I take your coat?”

            “No. I won’t be taking up too much of your time.”

            _Damn right_ , he thought. “Ok. How about a drink?”

            “No thanks. I’ve stopped drinking ever since I found Jesus.”

            “Oh that’s right. You talked about being born again in your letter. And the fact that you’re here means you must’ve got my reply in which I said you should get here by eleven.”

            Wendy took a letter out her coat pocket and held it up. “I did. But the bus was late.”

            “The bus? You mean you don’t have a car?”

            “Nope. No car, no husband, no kids, no pets. All I have is my work. My work is my life.”

            “Well, I admire your dedication.”

            “Thank you.” She looked around the living room. “You’ve certainly done very well for yourself.”

            “Yep. Although my wife does most of the decorating.”

            “Is she here?”

            “No. She’s away on a business trip. That’s why I said tonight would be best.”

            “Right, then let’s get on with it shall we?”

            Rickover finished his bourbon, set his glass down and nodded.

            “Good,” Wendy continued. “You can’t imagine what it’s been like for me all these years. I’ve always thought of myself as an honest person but I’ve been living with this lie hanging over my head. First I lied to Trudy, then the orphanage, then Dr. Nash. But most of all, I’ve been lying to the girl. It’s because of me that she doesn’t know the truth. But she deserves to know who her real parents are. Every child does.”

            Rickover thought for a moment before responding. “What about the money I gave you?” he asked. “Didn’t that mean anything?”

            “It helped at first. I can’t deny that. But all the money in the world can’t take away the guilt I feel. I was messed up for a long time. I tried therapy, antidepressants, but nothing worked. Until one day I found myself inside a church. And I prayed. And God answered. I felt His love and it changed me. It made me who I am today. So when I saw you’d been nominated to the appellate court, I just couldn’t stay silent.”

            “And so now you’re here to blackmail me.”

            “It’s not blackmail! It’s called doing what’s right. I may have sinned in the past but it’s not too late for me to make up for it. The only reason I’m here tonight is to let you know so you can prepare yourself for what comes next. And maybe, just maybe, so you can start to make peace with God too.”

            “Wendy, think about it for a second. All of that’s in the past. I’m an important man now. And once I’m on the Court of Appeals, I can do a lot of good. I can make people’s lives better. Isn’t that what God would want?”

            “No. I think God wants the truth to come out. No more lies. So tomorrow I’m going to tell the press everything I know. And nothing you can say will stop me. Goodbye Ethan.” She turned to leave. Rickover knew this was his only chance. If he let her walk out that door, his career would be over. He grabbed the poker and hit her over the head with it. Wendy screamed so he hit her again. And again. All he felt in that moment was pure, unadulterated rage. And the next thing he knew he was standing over Wendy’s body. There was blood everywhere. He dropped the poker and collapsed onto the couch.

            Rickover just sat there for a long time. He had never even thought about killing someone before but now that he had, he knew he had to act fast. _Should I dump her in the Bay? No, too risky. Someone might see me_. He looked out the window and saw that his neighbors had their lights off, indicating they had gone to bed. _Well, it’s worth a try_. He picked up Wendy’s body, carried her into the backyard and put her down by a tree. He got a shovel from his garage and started digging. After what seemed like hours, he had dug a hole big enough for Wendy. Once he had finished filling it in again, he realized he would need something to cover the spot so no one would notice that the dirt had been disturbed. _Maybe a sundial. That wouldn’t look too suspicious._

Back in the living room, Rickover noticed that his letter to Wendy was lying on the floor. She must have dropped it when he attacked her. He promptly lit another fire and threw the letter into it. As he began to clean up the blood, his thoughts turned to Trudy. It was inevitable that Wendy would be reported missing and when that happened, Trudy would no doubt connect the dots. She had been one of his brightest students and he had heard that she was now a journalist. Would she write about Wendy? Would she try to blackmail him too? Anything was possible. Unless he got to her first. He hated to admit it but he knew she had to go. His career was on the line and if one more person had to die, then so be it. Only this time he would do it from a distance so as not to get his hands dirty. It would have to be something simple like a car bomb. And that meant getting in contact with some unsavory types. He could handle it.

            It took awhile for Rickover to get to sleep that night but he finally did, knowing that once Trudy was gone he would be scot-free. Forever.


End file.
